A new, gross twist on a problem that's getting really old.

I slept in a bit today and when I went upstairs I cleaned up the remnants of our big dinner last night. T and the boys were up, R is still at her grandmother's. The house is blissfully peaceful. I've noticed that when there's three kids in a family if you remove any one child from the picture things change immensely and you can hear yourself think again.

It's quite amazing.

We had planned on going to the pool, but, as according to Murphy's Law, since it is Saturday it is rainy and dreary outside.

Instead I organized a linen closet while the dishwasher was running and that's where things get gross.

When I started putting clean dishes away I noticed a black speck inside one of the glass baby bottles. Hmmmm...

There were specks in three bottles and two glasses, stuck to the bottom of a plate and on one bowl.

Dead ants.

After basically rewashing all of the dishes as I took them out, I spent the afternoon and evening babysitting my two of my three young charges. R had spent the night out and Mom E didn't bring her back until late this afternoon. She was home long enough to drop off her stuff before being picked up to go to a friend's house.

Mom E hung around for over an hour, force feeding the kids fruit even after I told her that I'd given them plenty. She also followed me around the kitchen while I cooked dinner telling me how she does things and why kids need pasta boiled until it's dangerously close to being mush. I nodded and smiled and kept doing what I was doing anyway.

She almost left once and then she saw the baby watching her go and felt guilty and came back. Blast.

When she did finally leave I think she was fairly happy with me. She did tell me I was too young, so that scored her some points with me.

E ant T got home shortly after dinner and they're here now, putting the kids to bed and getting ready to go out. That's right, out. At 9pm. Even though they're tired and E was practically falling asleep in the playroom while talking with J, this is still New York and they are still going out.

I don't know if I have the energy for this state. I know I have lost the will to battle its ants.